Chapter 36:

Going easy on ya

En Passant Grandmaster Volume 3

Elsewhere in the city, Vittoria chuckled as she sat down at the chessboard.

"Oi, someone like you playing him is overkill. Play me instead!" Yuusuke fumed.

"Sure, after I beat this big guy and send him to prison. Though since his rating's under 1000 while mine's over 2300, he goes first. So hurry up big guy, unless ya wanna call it quits now."

Rodeo stared blankly at the board before finally moving his pawn to e4.

"And we got lift-off. Now let's see how good he is," Vittoria snickered as she moved her pawn to e5.

The game quickly morphed into a Philidor Defense game following Rodeo moving his knight to f3 and Vittoria moving her pawn to d6. Rodeo then moved his bishop to c4, while Vittoria responded by moving her knight to f6. And after knight c3, bishop e7, and pawn d4, it was looking like a typical game. Then, Vittoria moved her bishop to g4, allowing Rodeo to capture the pawn at e5 with his d-pawn.

"Wow, he saw through the trick. Guess maybe I underestimated him. But he's still below 1000," Vittoria thought as she captured the pawn at e5 with her d-pawn.

"... Check," Rodeo mumbled as he captured the queen at d8 with his queen.

"Wow, didn't think you'd sack the queen. Right call though," Vittoria smirked as she captured the queen at d8 with her bishop. Her surprise only increased as Rodeo captured the pawn at e5 with his knight. "Hmm, got potential, but can he hold it? Eh, this game's a wash anyway. Might as well test him out," she thought as she moved her knight to c6.

Rodeo, however, opted to capture the pawn at f7 with his knight.

"Wow, that was almost a good move. But now, I castle!" Vittoria declared as she castled on the king's side.

However, that was a massive mistake as it allowed Rodeo to not only capture the bishop at d8 with his knight, but put Vittoria in check too with the bishop. And after moving her king to h8, Vittoria watched as Rodeo naturally swooped up the knight on c6 with his knight.

"Welp, guess he's better than I thought, but can he hold it?" she thought as she captured the knight on c6 with her b-pawn.

Rodeo then moved his pawn to f3, but rather than move the bishop to safety, Vittoria moved her f-rook to e8. However, Rodeo countered perfectly by moving his bishop to g5. Vittoria decided to scare him by moving her pawn to h6, but Rodeo simply captured the knight on f6 with his bishop, forcing Vittoria to capture said bishop with her g-pawn on her next turn. But after Rodeo captured the bishop on g4 with his f-pawn, Vittoria went on the attack.

"Check. You fought well, but now it's over!" she declared as she captured the pawn at e4 with her rook.

Rodeo blinked for a few moments before reaching for his king, but stopped and grabbed the knight before using it to capture the rook on e4.

"Oh a blunder! But now you're pinned!" Vittoria sneered as she moved her rook to e8.

Rodeo glared and simply castled on the queen's side, allowing Vittoria to capture the knight on e4 with her rook. However, it was Rodeo who had the edge, and quickly moved his rook to d8, forcing Vittoria's king to h7. This allowed Rodeo to win a rook by moving his bishop to d3, pinning the rook to the king.

"He really is doing well, but he's still under 1000 elo. I wanna see if he'll mess up now," Vittoria thought as she moved her pawn to f5.

Rodeo quickly captured said pawn with his g-pawn, however the move allowed Vittoria to move her rook to the safety of a4. Rodeo scratched his head before moving his pawn to f6, forcing Vittoria to move her rook back to e4.

Rodeo then promptly captured the rook at e4 with his bishop. "... Check."

"BRAVISSIMO! You did well to beat me!" Vittoria clapped.

Rodeo stared in confusion, unaware that he hadn't simply put Vittoria in check, he had in fact checkmated her and won the game. "... It's checkmate? ... Oh, guess the pawn n' rook block off the king and there's nothing to block the bishop.

"Yes, and now I'm out of the mix. Come to think of it, Meli's the only Rainbow Executive left, unless Scharlachrot decided to get off her ass. Oh, guess you win some Italian gummies. It's... all I got on me. Well, you earned it, big boy."

Vittoria tossed Rodeo a package of unopened Italian gummy candy before heading off. Yuusuke meanwhile glared in confusion. "The girl had a rating of 2317. No way a player that skilled would blunder so badly. Was she throwing on purpose?"

"Does it matter? We've felled another one, so lets keep at it. Mimoko-sama must not remain in bondage any longer," Utami glared.

"Right. Numakawa's missing too, and so's Iori."

"The latter can be left as a sacrifice. Mimoko-sama is all we need to save."

Clack! Clack!

Everyone turned to the sound of heels clacking against the cobblestone road to notice Melania approaching them. "Pathetic. Vittoria, must you always go easy on lower-leveled opponents?" she snarled.

"Not like it was life or death. It was just a casual," Vittoria shrugged.

"A "casual" that means you now can't try and beat any more of them. I just received an urgent report; Mimoko has escaped."

Vittoria spat out her drink and began hacking before finally clearing her throat. "WHAT!? I thought Medeucesa reported routing some guy that found her!"

"She did, but then her and Sorcha were eliminated from the game, resulting in Sorcha deciding to... shave Medeucesa bald..."

"Wow, and Sorcha's hardcore too. We'll need to rename Medeucesa the bald fairy."

"Her head is apparently getting inked with Indigo snake tattoos."

"Eek! Poor girl! She's gonna look just like Sorcha's favorite girl, you know the one she shaved bald and covered completely in tattoos?"

"I care not. What matters is that thanks to Sorcha's fetish, Mimoko was able to slip away. Capture her immediately."

"Even though I'm out?"

"Mimoko is not a participant, therefore, you are free to restrain her, or at the very least, challenge her to chess in order to try and get her back to prison. She's bald now, and was reported wearing a white robe and sneakers."

A malicious grin spread on Vittoria's face as she dashed off faster than the eye could see.

"Now then, time to- GEE!?"

Melania recoiled in horror as she was met with the glare of a furious Utami. "You shaved Mimoko-sama's prized hair... BALD!?"

"N- No, Sorcha-"

"INSOLENCE! I'LL HAVE YOU STRIPPED, SKINNED, SHAVED, AND SCAPHISED!"

Melania let out a terrified squeal as she fell to her bottom in fear as Utami stomped towards her.

The full game:

White: Rodeo Gorou (500) Black: Vittoria Giallo (2317)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 d6

3. Bc4 Nf6

4. Nc3 Be7